Duration of carriage of multidrug-resistant bacteria in dogs and cats in veterinary care and co-carriage with their owners

Valentina Dazio; Aurélien Nigg; Janne S Schmidt; Michael Brilhante; Edgar I Campos-Madueno; Nico Mauri; Stefan P Kuster; Stefanie Gobeli Brawand; Barbara Willi; Andrea Endimiani; Vincent Perreten; Simone Schuller

doi:10.1016/j.onehlt.2021.100322

Duration of carriage of multidrug-resistant bacteria in dogs and cats in veterinary care and co-carriage with their owners

One Health. 2021 Aug 31:13:100322. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2021.100322. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland.
² Institute of Veterinary Bacteriology, University of Bern, Switzerland.
³ Clinic for Small Animal Internal Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Institute for Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland.
⁵ Tierklinik Aarau West AG, Oberentfelden, Switzerland.
⁶ Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University and University Hospital of Zurich, Faculty of Medicine, Zurich, Switzerland.

Abstract

Background: The emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) represent a threat to human and animal health.

Objectives: To assess duration of carriage of MDROs in dogs and cats presented to veterinary clinics/hospitals in Switzerland. To estimate prevalence, duration of and risk factors for MDRO carriage in their owners and the occurrence of co-carriage in owner-pet pairs.

Methods: Prospective, longitudinal, observational study. Nasal swabs and fecal samples were collected from 50 owners of dogs and cats presented to 3 large veterinary hospitals, 1 medium-sized clinic and 1 practice. If pet or owner tested positive for a MDRO, follow-up samples were collected for up to 8 months. Methicillin-resistant (MR) Staphylococcus aureus, MR S. pseudintermedius, MR coagulase-negative staphylococci (MRCoNS), MR Macrococcus spp., cephalosporinase- and carbapenemase-producing (CP) Enterobacterales were isolated and further characterized by MALDI-TOF MS, microdilution, β-lactam resistance gene detection, REP/ERIC-PCR, multilocus sequence typing or whole-genome sequencing. Risk factors for MDRO carriage in owners were explored based on questionnaire-derived data.

Results: Five out of 50 owners carried 3rd generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales (3GC-R-Ent.), and 5/50 MRCoNS. In 3 dogs and 4 cats carriage of 3GC-R-Ent. persisted for up to 136 days after discharge (median 99 days, IQR 83 days, range 36-136 days), in two cats isolates were carbapenem-resistant. Owner-pet co-carriage was not observed. No specific risk factors for MDRO carriage in owners were identified.

Conclusions: After discharge from veterinary care, dogs and cats may carry 3GC-R-Ent. for prolonged time periods. Carriage of MDROs was common in owners, but pet-owner co-carriage of the same MDRO was not observed.

Keywords: 3GC-R, Third Generation Cephalosporin-resistant; 3GC-R-Ent., Third Generation Cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales; AMR, Antimicrobial resistance; CI, Confidence interval; CLSI, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute; COL-R, Colistin-resistant; CP, Carbapenemase-producing; CR, Carbapenem-resistant; CRE, Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales; Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales; Co-carriage; Companion animal; ERIC-PCR, Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus polymerase chain reaction; ESBL, Extended spectrum β-lactamase; ESBL-E. coli, ESBL-producing Escherichia coli; ESBL-KP, ESBL-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae; EUCAST, European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing; Extended-spectrum β-lactamase; IQR, Interquartile range; KP, Klebsiella pneumoniae; MALDI-TOF MS, Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry; MDR, Multidrug-resistant; MDROs, Multidrug-resistant organisms; MICs, Minimal inhibitory concentrations; MLST, Multilocus sequence typing; MR, Methicillin-resistant; MRCoNS, Methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci; MRSA, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; MRSP, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius; REP-PCR, Repetitive element palindromic polymerase chain reaction; ST, Sequence type; TMP-S, Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole; Transmission; WGS, Whole-genome sequencing; pAmpC, Plasmid-encoded AmpC.